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Reed looked at his wallet and couldn't help but grimace. It was empty, as empty as the humid air he sucked in to calm his nerves.

'Dammit, looks like I'll have to grit my teeth and borrow money from Allen again.' He sighed.

He was fortunate enough to get into a private school, but not fortunate enough to be so well off as to not be broke. His parents paid for the tuition, and the school provided boarding and lunch. Everything else, he had to get himself.

'And a new semester just started, I'll need new materials as well as a way to keep myself from starving to death.'

He was a teenage boy, tall, and broad. Standing at 6'1. He had short brown hair and green eyes and, although he wasn't muscular, he wasn't in anyway skinny either. Was one meal a day going to provide for this body of his? Maybe for three days...but after that, he would likely pass out.

'Maybe I should join one of those students help clubs?' He momentarily thought, but quickly shook his head.

Not only would he need connections, which he didn't have, he would also technically need to be much poorer than this. Those things only really helped family's which couldn't afford tuition. He was in the middle, not rich enough to be well off but not poor enough to receive help.

He stuffed his pitiful wallet back into his pants and cursed, "Dammit."

He sighed, and sat back on his bed with a creek.

'After this, I might need to get some type of part-time job. My free time is already cut quite short though…'

He had minimal choices.

Life inside a private school was tough. Basically, except for weekends, every day was provided for with gruesome assignments. He had little break time as it is, he might have to reduce his already short sleeping time to four hours after all.

Though, a more pressing issue was even if the school would allow him to get a part-time job. No private school wanted its students working when they could be focused on studying. He would either need to beg them or come to a deal with them. He did not like the thought of either, his reputation around the school was already shaky enough as it stood. Not only had he almost been suspended before for an incident, but he also did not exactly have the best grades in the school--though, they were not the worst either. His only lifeline was that he was a bit better at math than most.

Although he mumbled, displeased, he still looked around his dorm room.

It was a simple room. A bed, a green book bag at its side, a work desk, a laptop, a closet, and a trash bin by the desk. Everything was neat and tidy, he wasn't one for messes. Some may even call him a 'clean freak'.

He couldn't help but sigh, 'I could make it into here, I can't give up yet.'

His heart burned with the desire for combat. Although he wasn't a genius, he had already come this far with mere persistence and diligence, there was no way he would allow the two and a half years he already spent here to go to waste.

[Congratulations, User, the Sacred Path System has chosen you as its new host.]

A mechanical voice, sounding a tinge like that of an older female, suddenly sounded within his head.

"What the heck?" Reed tilted his head, checking if he was currently being pranked by one of his classmates or not.

There was no one in the room except for him. Of course, that would be the case, this room couldn't be opened without his keycard. So the idea of a hidden voice receiver somewhere here was also unlikely.

It wasn't over as something popped up within his vision...

[Logic] B-

[Meditation] C [Visualization] B [Retrieval] D

[Dao] D [Taoism] D [Buddhism] F

[Will] B [Concentration] C

[Physique] F+ [Strength] D [Agility] B [Endurance] C

[Martial Skills] F [Parkour] F [Boxing] D

[Art] F [Drawing] F+ [Shading] F [Construction] F [Pose] F

[Driving] F

[Reading] D

[Writing] C+ [Essay Writing] B- [DBQ & LRQ] D+ [Poetry] F [Screenplay] F- [Art of a Story] D- [Layout] D

[Hand Writing] D+ [Calligraphy] F [Cursive] F [Print] C [Dual Control] D

[Math] D [Basic Math] S [Algebra I] A [Algebra II] A [Geometry] B+ [Trigonometry] B+

[Web Coding] D [App Dev] D [Computer Science] F-

[Word] C [Excel] F [Photoshop] F

[Engineering] D- [Physics] D-

[Electronics] F-

[Psychology] D+

[Philosophy] D

[Science] F+ [Anatomy I] C- [Physics 1] C [Biology I] B [Biology II] D

[World History] D- [U.S History] B

[Keyboarding] B

[Language] D [English] B [Spanish] F+

[Overall] A pubescent novice that still somehow thinks he has some skills to show off in the real world. His meager skill quality is subpar at best, even at the level of a high school student.

Reed Fraught was momentarily stunned, and when he read that last part, he became completely speechless.

"What the fu*k, how can this daddy here only be a pubescent novice!?!"

A private school was still a private school, there was no way he was a pubescent noob. However, he quickly stopped and retraced his eyes through the screen.

"This...isn't this a breakdown of all the things I've ever tried my hand at or learned?" His eyes widened as he came to a realization.

Everything was there, from his momentary lapse in perusing the path of an artist, his chance encounter with a book on Daoism and Buddhism which led him to the path of 'following fate but never bending for it', to his continued physique and exercising of his body. The more he stared at the screen, the more he became amazed.

'It's basically just a ranking...but what do the ranks even mean?'

Suddenly, a smaller window popped up before the first, although he could still clearly read the words as if they were embedded in his mind.

[F - The most you know is akin to speculations.

D - You've taken your first steps but there is more to learn.

C - You've learned the basics firmly, now keep going.

B - Although you've advanced, you still need to continuously think on your feet to truly achieve much progress.

A - Congratulations, you're now able to figure most things out with little thought.

S - You've now delved deeply into the intricacies of the subject; not just broadening your knowledge but digging into the methodology.

SS - You've incorporated your knowledge so deeply that it has now become natural.

SSS - Your knowledge has become so instinctive that you can now apply it to real life situations and other areas of studies; while giving it a breath of fresh air and making your own insights upon it.]

Reed carefully read through the meaning of each rank with furrowed brows.

"I really am a pubescent novice by this standards…" He frowned, "If I'm not wrong, rank A also seems to be the midpoint showing true 'skill' in an area."

Barely any of his skill set had even reached rank A.

[That would be correct.]

That same voice.

"Who are you? What is this?" Reed didn't beat around the bush, seeing these things in front of him, he already had a few exciting thoughts as his heartbeat noticeably increased.

[I am your guide through the Sacred Path System, you may call me whatever you wish.]

"Whatever I wish?"

[Yes?]

"You sound like a girl...I might as well call you Maria," He said.

[Maria has been registered.] The mechanical voice answered before proceeding, [As your first gift for successfully activating the system, the user has a one time beginner's gift waiting to be retrieved. Would you like to acquire it at this given time?]

"Acquire, definitely acquire!!" Reed unhesitatingly replied.

[Ding! User has acquired the one time gift 'S Rank Jump'!]

[S Rank Jump: Immediately boosts one currently acquired skill of the user's choosing to S rank.]

His eyes widened, he couldn't help but momentarily take a breath.

He was smarter than he looked, he immediately said, "Use it on my Logic."

There was no debating what he would put the gift into, it could only be something that would help him in the long run!

[Congratulations, your Logic has been raised to the S rank.]

A wave of unused and untapped energy seemed to immediately spring into his mind. His brain seemed to pulse with the desire to immediately give its new found potential a spin. His thoughts had also become clearer and more fluid than ever before, he sucked in a cold breath as a thought dawned on him.

"This can't be the only thing this System is good for, right? There's no way it could only be used to keep a check on my ranks right?"

There was a bit of thinking that backed this thought. For one, the very nature of obtaining a gift that boosted one of his abilities at its mere inception showed two points (1) The System could be used to help boost his stats with less effort than he himself would require and (2) That this was only the cream on the top of the cake...he had never heard of something showing all its cards at the beginning. And, for two, Reed was not an idiot...he had read a ton more light novels than not...and if he knew anything, the system based genre was never so simple.

[Precisely,] The voice answered.

[The 'Sacred Path' System is designed to facilitate the growth of the user. Whether through direct or indirect help, my goal is to help the user reach the apex of the word. Chasing this very thought, I will use everything within my means that I deem necessary.]

[For now, only two areas have been unlocked, (1) Status and (2) Missions and Rewards.]

'Missions?' Reed furrowed his brows, "To be honest, if your goal is to guide me to the apex, why can't you just give me everything you can provide in one go? Wouldn't I reach the apex much easier that way then?"

[I am not omnipotent, I still have to adhere to the standards of the Systemic Council.]

'Systemic Council?' Reed furrowed his brows.

[A governing body of all systems, multiversal or not.]

'You can hear my thoughts?—wait wait, I'm not the only one in possession of a system!?!'

This was earth-shattering news, as far as he was aware, within all the novels he had ever read...only the MC was in possession of a system. Could it be that he was lucky enough to obtain a system but also unlucky enough to not be the actual MC of this world??

[How could that be? Just on this planet alone, I can sense the signatures of six other systems. The longest has been activated for two years now, and the shortest has just awakened at the same time as I have. Right now. After all, to reach the apex, not only do you have to become the most skilled person on the planet, you also need to tear down the systems of the other current users and incorporate their earned values into your own.]

'Wait...doesn't that sound like a battle royal where we're fighting against each other??? Dammit! I'm not even lucky enough to have a head start, in fact, I've been handicapped early on haven't I!?!'

[Work hard, user.] Maria simply replied.

Reed Fraught frowned. His mind was still racing, and the prospects of fighting other system holders did not serve much in quenching his thoughts. He had to prepare, he was not yet ready to give up a gift from heaven such as the system, especially so when he had just witnessed the surface level of its prowess—and that alone had propelled his logical thinking. Although he had a lot of questions flying through his mind at the moment, he chose the current most important.

'If this is going to be a worldwide battle royal, how would we even be fighting?'

[The user is not currently eligible to access that information, please work hard towards the current mission.]

'The fu*k, how can I prepare if I don't even know how we will be fighting?'

[My condolences.]

'Can you at least tell me if the other users have unlocked that information yet?'

[I currently do not have the authority to intrude on other users and their systems, the most I can do at the moment is locate them.]

'Oh? So you can gain that later on huh? Alright, then, tell me where they are.'

[Aside from you: One is in the U.S, one in Brazil, one in Nigeria, one in China, another in Japan, and the last in Britain.]

'...' Reed was speechless.

Aside from the one that was also in the U.S...weren't they basically all spread out around the globe? It was such a 'coincidence' that it looked almost like some outside force had deliberately set the 'game' as such…

'At this rate...won't I need to pick up several languages?' He thought.

[That would be advantageous, yes.]

Reed almost wanted to curse once more but held himself back.

He sighed and asked Maria once more, 'How do the missions work?'

[Missions are given on a need to know basis, sometimes they are frequent, sometimes not. Every mission can be passed with your skill level at its inception, they are tailored towards your growth.] Maria unhurriedly explained.

[Except for certain cases, you cannot move past your current mission until it is either passed or failed. If you fail, you simply lose the chance to engage with that same mission. Although some few special missions do have penalties, most do not.]

'What is my current mission then?'

[There are two concurrent current missions.]

[Mission: Raise a single skill to rank C.

Reward: +10% increase in learning rate and memory capacity and ability.

Limit: 15 Days.]

[Mission: How can one who wishes to one day reach the apex be completely broke?? Even if he is merely 17, this cannot be forgiven. Raise $250 within the next two weeks.

Reward: +1 Major Rank increase for a single random skill.

Limit: Two weeks.]

"..." He sighed and soon decided to not bother exasperating over the tasks at hand. He was already two years behind the most advantageous person, he had no time to waste less he gets his system 'striped' from him.

If he could find the location of other Users, so could they, and one of them might already have information on how to go about 'battling' him for his system.

After staring at these two screens for a moment, Reed's mind was already racing. The first mission was a must, he immediately decided to devote most of his attention towards that—that 10% increase in his learning rate and memory, although not sounding like much, he was smart enough to figure it to be a true olive branch. He was not totally dumb, for the first one, he would simply choose to increase a D ranked skill to C instead of starting over with a lower tiered or new skill. For the latter…

'That fatty must not have done his homework again, forget it, instead of borrowing money...I'll just do it for him for a price.' He thought, scratching his chin.

He was rather confident, not because he was smart, but because his logic and reasoning skills had been raised to the S rank. Although it didn't quite equate to his intelligence, it was at least a factor of it. It would do him well to not only use it to get money but for him to also test and train it at the same time by choosing a subject like Math—which required working logic. He was already 'average' at that subject anyway.

'I can probably do quite a few assignments for a price, especially for those well off students...charging $10 per task shouldn't be too much, then I only need to do about twenty-five of them. Hopefully, not only should people plan not to do their homework, they should be willing to pay as well. Maybe I can get this mission over as fast as the former.'

Having formulated a plan, he sighed to himself and decided to finally rest his mind and body.

He was already in his boxers, he simply got comfy on his bed and dozed to sleep.